1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic toy capable of controlling motions arbitrarily in accordance with external sounds and contacts, control method thereof, and storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Animal dolls, such as those of dogs, cats, bears, etc., have been widely used as toy animals from the past. Further, there are toy animals wherein motors and speakers are built in the animal dolls or the body of animal-shaped toys manufactured from synthetic resin. For example, by contacting the head and pressing it down, the toy animals will conduct prescribed motions such as moving the feet or mouth, and generate prescribed cries.
With these types of toy animals, as the same motions are repeated and the same cries are generated repeatedly, the user will often lose interest in the toy easily. Contrarily, if the motions are selected at random, the user will also lose interest in the toy easily since the motions expected by such user will not be made. In light of such conventional toy animals, electronic toys with microcomputers for controlling various motions such that the user will not lose interest in the toy have been developed.
As an example of such electronic toy, there are those that conduct certain motions (e.g., generating pre-stored phrases from a speaker, shaking the body, etc.) pursuant to commands of a microcomputer upon the user stroking the head, lifting the toy, speaking to it, and so on. This type of electronic toy counts the number of times the head was stroked, the number of times the doll was raised, the number of times the user spoke to it and, for example, controls the toy to gradually change the phrases generated from the speaker to become a more charming expression pursuant to the increase in the count value.
With the conventional electronic toy described above, as the toy will merely change the spoken words to gradually become a more charming expression pursuant to the increase in the number of times the head was stroked, the number of times the toy was lifted, and the number of times the user spoke to the toy, the motion patterns thereof are predictable.
Thus, with conventional electronic toys, there is a problem in that the user will lose interest in the toy in a relatively short period of time as such user will know what the toy will say next pursuant to the length of contracting such toy.